


Give and Take (Gratitude)

by roguefaerie



Series: The Old Guard (Femmeslash) Extras [5]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Andy | Andromache of Scythia Regains Immortality, Enthusiastic Consent, F/F, Fix-It of Sorts, Heartbeats, Hedonist Andy | Andromache of Scythia, Honesty, Immortality, Kissing, Polyamory Negotiations, Sharing a Bed, Timeline What Timeline, of a sort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:47:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26321386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roguefaerie/pseuds/roguefaerie
Summary: Nile has been thinking a lot about Andy, and how to help.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Nile Freeman
Series: The Old Guard (Femmeslash) Extras [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1886353
Comments: 9
Kudos: 48
Collections: We Die Like Fen 4: We Lived to Die Afen





	Give and Take (Gratitude)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SassySnowperson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SassySnowperson/gifts).



Nile remembers the last thing Andy said to Booker in full confidence of who he was, about what a shitty job both of them were doing at their--well--job. She knows it’s going to stick with her for the rest of her days. 

She remembers it as they continue to work--when she rooms with Andy because the boys have their own this time, and when she’s in the shower and thinking about (Andy) how the hell to get all of this done. 

Because she can’t stop thinking about Andy being vulnerable and refusing to put on her armor, and she knows the immortal-not-immortal could be gone any minute if things go wrong and that makes her a little bit frantic.

She feels the edges of it, the idea of losing Andy when she just found her, and the way the elder is always half in the clouds, or thinking of-- well, of course, someone else.

But when she gets back into the room proper and just stands there in front of Andy with her gut aching from thinking about it all too much, her lips part and Andy smiles and says a little roughly, “So?” 

She moves forward and stands at the edge of the bed but close enough and leans down and Andy moves to show her that she’s anticipated this. Of course she has. She’s had millenia to perfect reading people, but it doesn’t matter, Nile still wants this.

Nile kisses Andy without a single word in reply and she breathes into Andy and-- feels-- the-- something snap into place, like this is exactly what she’s supposed to be doing, where she’s supposed to be. 

When Andy pulls away there’s a shine in her eyes and on her lips and she says--

“You gave it back.”

“I didn’t lose it.”

“No, but you gave it back.”

Andromache’s smile holds all of the years she’s ever walked the earth and she reaches for Nile’s wrist and strokes the pulse point. She could murmur a thank you but Nile isn’t expecting one, doesn’t know if Andy would or should be thankful at all.

In the end it was simple. She did it just by being, and feeling what she was feeling. 

Nile knew that there were others she could be with, people who wouldn’t suspect a thing, but Andy was here now, and shining with promise in Nile’s mind.

This has just happened. Probably the way it was intended to, and maybe her God had had a hand in it, and she thinks of thinking of Andy in the shower and how she told herself it was nothing. She knows that somewhere out there is the one Andy was meant for and--

Andy still kisses back, with gratitude radiating out of her like the shine in her eyes that says she’s seen too much but can go another thousand rounds and--

Nile murmurs, “Been wanting to do that for months already. I’ve been worried,” which she shouldn’t say, at least the last part, but she doesn’t feel Andy recoil. And that surprises her. “We should tell--”

“First.we stay here a while. Let me get used to it. And let me--” Andy’s thumb is rubbing the pulse point on Nile’s wrist again. “At least let me enjoy this first.”

Nile smiles. And then asks the question that’s been on her mind. “Is it better? This way? Or worse? Are you tired?”

“I was. But I feel good. Like I’m on fire again--in the best way.. Like it just came back. Like the world is shining. Let me--”

This time Andy kisses her first and there’s fierceness to it, like Nile doesn’t have to be afraid Andy doesn’t want this because of someone else. Like Andy is telling her that with each moment that passes.

Like Andy can see that she’s fierce too.

Of course she could--but letting Nile know that-- it wasn’t something that Nile expected to find out.

“Of course I know,” Andy murmurs as they break the kiss, pulling away in unison, and something shivers down Nile’s spine.

Andy laughs. “I know how you look when you want something. And you wanted to give it back to me. And you did.”

“God is good.”

“Something like that. Maybe it’s just purpose.”

“Maybe. Andy, if Quynh...”

“If we find her. And I still- Want to-”

“I know. Of course you do.”

“If we find her. Then...we show her. We show her who we are, these days, who I am these days.”

“Andy--”

“I mean it, Nile. You deserve to enjoy what’s been given to you.”

“Is this going to mean the same thing in the morning?”

“You just saved my life. If nothing else, they’re going to have to believe that.”

And in a way, Nile hasn’t been thinking of it as that, even with Andy’s death beating down on them like a new inevitable.

“She’ll thank you.”

Nile’s blood pounds in her ears. “I meant to,” she says.

“I know.”

Nile smiles a little sadly despite herself and Andy shakes her head. 

“Come on. Let me show you what else you deserve. Let me give you something in return.”

Nile’s heart is still racing hard enough for her to hear as she realizes she’s dealing with someone who earnestly means what she says-- who has just said--

Andy lets go of the pulse point and runs her hands along Nile’s arms and Nile shivers, her whole body reminding her what else she’s thought of for months while Andy kept defying death.

She puts a hand over Andy’s heart and feels it beating, unsure what else to expect. It's not not slower like a athlete’s after countless deaths that regrow the muscle each time Andy's heart is pierced, but Nile can sense the echoing of six thousand years all the same. Timelessness. It’s beautiful, and this beauty, the beauty of it all, wants her in so many ways. That’s Nile’s last thought before she’s in Andy’s arms and they’re kissing again. Andy rocks her back onto the bed. 

“We don’t have to tell anyone yet,” Andy murmurs against her lips. “We're just here together. But we will. We can tell the whole world. Or at least our world.”

Nile believes her. She grins around Andy’s kisses and kisses back with all the biting fierceness she can muster.

Andy’s met her match and she knows it, and Nile can swallow that knowledge down with pride.

Maybe Nicky and Joe can hear them, in the end, but Andy and Nile are past caring.

Months of maybes dissolve into the certainty of this right now moment. And so it is.


End file.
